Attention
Ms Benita Ferrero Waldner
Commissioner for External relations
Mr Kouchner
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs
Mr Pöttering
President of the European Parliament
Mr Solana
High representative for the CFSP
29 September 2008
Dear Commissioner,
Dear Minister,
Dear President,
Dear High Representative,
In the perspective of the parliamentary elections to be held in Bangladesh at the end of this year, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Odhikar express their deepest concern at the continuation of the State of Emergency for more than 20 months.
The Caretaker Government, after taking over power, imposed a nationwide State of Emergency in January 2007, initially justified by street violence and stalemate between political parties. The situation came under control rather quickly, but the State of Emergency was not lifted.
Under Emergency, basic human rights provisions enshrined in the Constitution of Bangladesh are suspended, including freedom of movement (Article 36), assembly (Article 37), association (Article 38), thought, conscience and speech (Article 39), profession and occupation (Article 40) and the right to property (Article 42). Moreover, the Emergency Powers Ordinance and Emergency Powers Rules give the Government unfettered power of arrest without a warrant and deny the Courts authority to decide provisional release on bail. The Emergency in place violates Article 4 of the ICCPR because one cannot consider anymore that Bangladesh is currently facing "a public emergency which threatens the life of the nation". Under international law, the duration, geographical coverage and material scope of the state of emergency must be limited to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, and temporary.
FIDH and Odhikar strongly believe that free and fair elections cannot be held in this context of suspension of basic human rights. Certain provisions of the state of emergency have been lifted on the occasion of the local election held in August 2008, but only on a temporary basis and in determined municipalities. FIDH and Odhikar believe that the state of emergency should be lifted in its entirety, and on the whole territory of Bangladesh in order to create a climate conducive to free and fair election.
In this context, we urge you to publicly call upon the Bangladeshi Government to immediately lift the State of Emergency and to condition the deployment of a EU electoral observation mission to this full and definitive lifting. Partial lifting of the state of emergency does not suffice to create an enabling environment for a credible election. The people of Bangladesh would in the current context perceive a EU mission of electoral observation as legitimizing an electoral process while fundamental rights are being restricted.
Thanking you for your kind attention, we remain
Sincerely Yours
Souhayr Belhassen
President of FIDH
Adilur Rahman Khan
Secretary of ODHIKAR